Rock drilling and splitting



(No Model.)

G. M. GITHENS. ROCK DRILLING AND SPLITTING.

v Patented Apr. 3, 1894.

PATENT nmen,

GEORGE M. GITHENS, 'OF BROOKLYN, NElV YORK.

ROCK DRILLING AND SPLITTINGy SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersPatent No. 5173689, dated April 3, 1894:.

Application filed May 15, 1893. Serial No. 4:74.Z25. (Ne model.)

To all whom it may cancer-n:

Be it known that I, GEORGE M;G1THENS, a citizen of the United States,residingat Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, haveinvented an Improvement in Rock Drilling and splitting, of which thefollowing is a specification.

In Letters Patent No. 37l,679, granted to me October 18, 1887, a methodof and tools for drilling rocks are set forth, in which the rock isdisintegrated by blows from the fiat face of a drilling tool, waterbeing supplied into the drill hole, and in Letters Patent No. 486,101,granted to 'me November 15, 1892, for rock drilling and splitting, aseries of holes is employed, such holes being elongated in the directionof the line of cleavage, and in Letters Patent No; 47 9,500 granted tome July 26, 1892, wedges are represented and chisels for starting thefracture in the line of cleavage, such-wedges however acting at thebottom of the holes.

In my present invention I make the holes substantially diamond shapesoas to provide opposite angles into which are driven by the action ofthe powder, cutting and cleaving wedges which not onlyconcentrate theforce of the explosion upon the line of cleavage,

-but also prevent the stone from commencing to split in jagged orirregular lines.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section representing my improveddrilling tool. Fig. 2

shows the drill hole with the wedges in posi-' tion. Figs. 3 and 4: areplan views showing the faces of the drills that are made use of withmyimprovement, and Fig. 5 is a sectional plan View showing the cleavingwedges in their position for use within the drill hole.

The drill A made use of by me is substantially diamond shape in itssection, 'as indicated in Fig. 3, two of the corners however may berounded, as illustrated in Fig. 4. The drill may be made with a head ofsuitable length, as illustratedin my Patent No. 37l,67 9, or the shankof the drill may be of the same section or nearly so as the head, andthis drilling tool is to be reciprocated by suitable machinery and thehead brought into contact with the stone where the drill hole is to bemade, and as the drilling progresses water is to be supplied into thehole, in order that the in a manner similar to that of a hammen' Thisdrill forms a hole of substantially the same shape as the drill butslightly larger, hence the hole is diamond-shaped sectionally throughoutits length, and when an explosion is effected within the drill hole, theforce of the explosion is concentrated into the opposite angles of thehole in the line of the greatest diameter of the diamond, and I increasethe efiiciency of the explosion and effect a splitting action in astraight line by the insertion into the hole of cleaving bars or cuttersD which are of suitable length, but the angle of the bar at the cuttingor cleaving edge is slightly less than the angle of the diamond-shapedhole drilled in the stone, in order that the cleaving bars may bearuniformly and forcefully with their cleaving edges into the oppositeangles of the V -shaped hole drilled in the stone; and it isadvantageous to introduce a wedge F between the cleaving bars D with asuitable wad G between the top end of the wedge and the Cartridge orcanister of powder, so that the force of the explo sion actingdownwardly upon the wedge F will drive the same in between the cleavingbars D and force them powerfully into the stone and commence thecracking of such stone upon the line of cleavage; and I remark that bythis present improvement there is no risk of the cleavin g bars becomingdisplaced as sometimes occurs in a round hole such as shown in my PatentNo. 479,500, hence the hole is m especially adapted to the cleavingbars, and

the cleaving bars are adapted to crack the stone in the line of cleavageat the opposite angles within the diamond-shaped hole.

ln instances where wedges have been used for splitting stone, thefracture has usually been made in a plane passing through between theconverging sui-faces of the wedge. In nyimprovementthe edges of thecleaving bars act upon the stone in the angles between the convergingsurfaces thereof at the opposite sides of the hole, regardless of themanner in which the hole with such converging surfaces has been formed,and the wedge that IOO acts between thecleaving bars exerts its forceperpendicular to the plane of cleavage and the action of the cleavingbars and wedge is the same whether the wedge is driven in by percussionor by the action of the explosion, the cleaving bars serving to commencethe splitting action on the stone.

The wedge F and cleaving bars D may be connected together by anyconvenient devices, such as cords or wires through holes, so as to belowered Conveniently into position to the bottom of the dril-l hole. v

I claim as my inventionl The method herein specified of splitting rockconsisting in forming a hole with opposite angnlar grooves, introdncinginto such hole cleaving bars having edges at less angles than the anglesin the stone and driving in an intermediate wedge and forcing the edgesof the cleaving bars into the opposite angles of the stone to split thesame substantially as set forth.

2. The method here-in specified of' splitti ng stone, consisting informing a hole with opposite angnlargrooves, introdncing into such holecleaving bars having edges ata less angle than the angles in the stoneand dri-ving the cleaving bars into the opposite an'gles of i the stoneto split the same, substantially as' i specified.

3. The two cleaving bars/D. D having longitudinal angular edges andinclined back faces, the narrowest ends of the bars being uppermost, incombination with an intermediate wedge with its' widest end nppermost,

and means for suspending the cleaving bars below the wedge bar so thatthe three parts can be lowered into the bole in the rock, subistantially as specified.

I a wad resting on the wedge and supporting the explosive materialsnbstantially as specified.

Signed by me this 9th day of May, 1893. I

GEO. M. GITHENS.

witnesses:

GEO. T. PINCKNEY, A. M. OLIVER.

